Exodus

Those of you who know us well enough to be reading this blog know that our move to Oklahoma was quite a whirlwind. Since Joel's new employer wanted him to start as soon as possible, we really had to scramble to pack and make everything happen. I think moving in two weeks would be difficult in any situation, but being pregnant definitely did not help. You know, the last two times I've moved have been the biggest moves I've experienced, and I was in my third trimester for both of them. Not fun. Equally not fun was saying goodbye to people. The more I think about it, the sadder I feel. Things have been great here, but it was sad to not be able to say goodbye to so many of our friends. Even the friends we were actually able to see, the goodbyes weren't really enough. Sad.
One of the people that was hardest to leave is Kenji. He's been our Utah buddy for almost our entire married lives, and he was the one member of my family that I had close by for many years. The week before we left, we went down and had dinner with Kenji, during which Dane asked if we could jump on the trampoline at Kenji's house. He was happy to oblige.




Dane definitely misses him. Kenji came out for a visit earlier this month, which I will post about later. We were happy to see him again so soon and hope he can visit again soon (hint hint).

Packing was hard. But I did my best to be thorough, though I didn't take pictures of the process. I had many kind offers of help, and one night my sister-in-law Elizabeth, who was in town from Japan, came over and helped:

That was really nice of her. I really should have better documented all the people who helped pack/load/clean. They were a huge help, especially Joel's mom. We got a personal thanks from our landlord for leaving the place so clean; Mom definitely helped us with that!
She also spent some quality fun time with Dane:

We've lived pretty close to Mom for the past several years, so it is sad to be so far away from her, too. Thanks for everything you did for us, Mom!

George and Melanee, et al, came over to help with the final packing/loading, even though George wasn't feeling well. That was really great of them, and Dane loved being able to hang out with Sam and Kevin. Here they are, enjoying pizza and being cute:

Joel, George, Kenji, and many other helpers from the ward loaded everything into our truck, after which Kenji and Dane perched on the top of the load:

I keep looking at the pictures and thinking, "Why the heck is Dane wearing a jacket?" Since we've had well over 30 days of topping 100 degrees here in Oklahoma, it's easy to forget how it was still chilly when we left Utah. I should have been more grateful for the coolness while I was there. In fact, the other day, as I was forcing Dane into his super hot car seat, he started crying that he missed Sandy, Utah. I asked him what he liked about Sandy, and he said, "Winter."
Amen, Dane.
I also miss going to nearby parks with Dane. Of course, there are nearby parks in Oklahoma, too, but given my "condition" and the 105 degree temperatures EVERY DAY, we haven't made it to a park. This is a little collage of nature that Dane picked up on one of our many trips to the park in Sandy, Utah:


As we finished cleaning up our apartment, Mom forced me to lay down and rest for a bit. It surprised me how much harder it was to get things done while being pregnant. I'd kind of gotten used to just feeling achy and sore all the time. When I finally laid down, I realized how much my body hurt. Joel happened to take a lovely picture.

Haha, gross.

Then, we headed off on the two-day drive to Oklahoma. I have never driven on a road trip for longer than about five hours. But since we had two cars to transport, Joel and I had to caravan the 19-hour trip. I'm kind of amazed we made it, given our exhausted state. But it all went well. Thanks to Allen and Monique for hosting us at our halfway point, feeding us, staying up WAY too late with us, and even being late to church just to hang out with us!

We made it to Oklahoma unscathed, where Mom and Dad and Rika were eagerly awaiting our arrival. It was nice to have a relaxing week before Joel started his job, even if some of that relaxation was mitigated by the drama with the house that almost was. We were a able to just hang out a lot. Dane and I had a jam session:


And finally, here is the end of old job/moving beard that Joel grew until he started his new job.


Why, you ask, does his wife allow such vile, prickly behavior? I have never held such sway with my husband. Some women have this power over their husbands; I don't know how they do it, because I sure don't. What can I do? Refuse to kiss him? A fat lot of good that'd do since we haven't kissed in like four years anyway.
Just kidding. It really doesn't bother me that much. And considering the fact that I've been known to go entire winters without ever shaving my legs, we're probably about even. Well, I really don't have very hairy legs. So maybe he still owes me.
This post is becoming an overshare, so I'll stop now.

Homeless No More

So, I've been chastised by several people (mostly my siblings) about not updating the blog in a long time. I've kind of had a lot going on, duh. And I don't have internet at my house yet.
But today's your lucky day!
I have a few things to say about our adventure packing/cleaning/driving out here, but I'll save that for another post.
For now, I will regale you with the tale of how we came to live in a nice house.
When we first found out about Joel's new job, we immediately started an online house hunt, and my sister and mom helped us out by looking at places in person for us.
We found a place that I still think was good, but it was just left in a mess. So we tried to get them to give us reduced rent to make up for the fixing up we'd have to do, but they chose to just let us out of the contract instead. So, it was a good thing to not have to live in a place that would require a lot of work, but then we were homeless.
So, we ended up staying at my parents' house for over three weeks, and they were gracious, generous hosts. In the meantime, a friend told us about some people who weren't having any luck selling their house and were considering renting. After some negotiation, we ended up coming to an agreement and renting their house for a steal!

Check out our place!

Pretty, no?
Some of the biggest selling points:
A big master bathroom with a walk-in shower, BIG walk-in closet, and TWO sinks!

Two sinks are pretty awesome. I mean, it's definitely a luxury and not a necessity, but it's so nice to be able to be washing my face at the same time Joel is brushing his teeth instead of having to wait around for him to finish or feeling rushed because he's waiting for me to finish. Two sinks!
Also, for the record, I don't know how to take good interior shots to give you the right impression of the bathroom's spaciousness. In that second picture, you can see the walk-in shower on the left and a little of the tub behind it. Maybe. It's really not a great picture.

Also, the kitchen!

The kitchen's not huge or anything, but it has enough cabinet space that I am wondering what to do with it all--a problem I have never before had in my adult life. And there's a designated dining area (as opposed to the cramped, cabinet-blocking place where we had to put our table at our last house). And, there's a pantry! It's always been my dream to have a pantry. This one is little, and I totally forgot to take a picture of it, but it has a pantry!
Also, a nice, open living room right off the kitchen:


Some of the less attractive points:

There is so much pink. The exterior bricks are pink. The carpet is pink. The little specks in the countertop in the bathroom are pink. This bedroom is pink. Insanely pink. It is so pink that I, in all seriousness, worried that it would literally drive the baby crazy. I read about that once in a psychology class, insanity inducing pink. So, we painted it white. Much less crazy, if pedestrian. And I figure that action alone will help the owners sell the house in the future. But I thought you'd like to see it. My dad compared the carpet to Raspberry Zingers and the walls to Pepto Bismol. I think you'll see the resemblance.

Also, the sink was completely plugged. With grease. Blech. But, my plucky, handy husband got it all taken care of:

Heehee!

Firsts for us in this house:
Two full baths
A laundry room
A garage
A fully fenced in yard (where a rabbit visits us every day!)
Two sinks!
A pantry!
Being in a single-family home
Two living areas
Vaulted ceilings

I am very happy with it.
We're only going to live there for a year because the owners want to get the house back on the market. But in the meantime, I think it will be a great place for us. It is only 3 miles from my parents' house, and about 45 minutes from my sisters. Close to shopping, and there is a neighborhood park and pool. Also, I think the owners will be happy they rented to us since we've already made some improvements to the property. They apparently didn't put much effort into sprucing the place up to sell it; even ignoring the pink room, there were several other things that may have turned off potential buyers, and we've already fixed them! So, swish for both parties. Making these improvements help me feel less guilty about getting such a good deal on the rent.
So, stay tuned for more updates as I continue getting the house all put together and presentable. It's kind of funny how I half expected our stuff to look nicer now that we're in a real house instead of an apartment/duplex. But no. Still our regular, ugly stuff. But it works.

To conclude, here is Dane showing off his new, mirrored closet:

And his photography skills, featuring his whale mommy:

Speaking of being a whale, I was at the mall yesterday and a lady asked me if the baby's coming any minute.
"Um, no, six more weeks."
I wasn't offended or anything. Really, I was validated that I really do look huge and it's not just in my head.
Speaking of baby, things are going well, from what I can tell. Joel's new, amazing benefits kicked in today, so I will be seeing a doctor next week, and I'll have more to report then. But baby's moving around like crazy, and I feel good, so I think all is well.
I have many more posts up my sleeve. We arranged to get the internet at our house, but they won't be able to get it up and running until July 21st, but I'll do my best to post before then.